Post Graduate Scholarship for GATE/GPAT Qualified Students for Pursuing M.Tech/M.E./M.Pharm-UGC(PGSGATE/GPATQSPMT/ME/MPUGC)

Overview

About PGSGATE/GPATQSPMT/ME/MPUGC

Nothing in this award is filled in by the person who receives it, and that single fact is the difference between qualifying on paper and actually being paid. Under the University Grants Commission's XII Plan guidelines for the award, covering 2012 to 2017, the university admits a GATE or GPAT qualified candidate and then submits an online claim for the first semester on the UGC portal at www.ugc.ac.in, uploading the prescribed proforma, an undertaking and the score card, and the Commission sends the money to the student by Direct Benefit Transfer (UGC guidelines, archived copy of the same document).

The claim structure decides almost everything a candidate experiences. A student who has done nothing wrong can still see no money because a department did not file, and a student who changes semesters faster than the paperwork moves waits for the claim to catch up.

Which body is actually paying is worth settling before any of the terms below matter. The scheme record names UGC, and the guidelines set out here are UGC's own, but they were issued for the plan period running from 2012 to 2017 and no later set has replaced them (UGC guidelines, archived copy). The award no longer stands on its own, either. UGC's National Scholarship for Postgraduate Studies was formed out of older postgraduate awards, and this scheme is on the list of what it took in (NSP scheme FAQ). The live directory on the portal reads the same way, since the entries filed under UGC there are that scheme and Ishan Uday, with nothing carrying this name (Schemes on NSP), so a fresh applicant reaching the portal is filing into the successor scheme's window and not into the one described here. Two smaller signs point the same way, and a candidate can check each. The Commission's Student Corner entry for the scheme now returns the page with the scheme block missing, so the tenure, rate and slot line quoted further down survive on the archived snapshot of that same UGC page rather than on the page itself (UGC Student Corner, archived page). The disbursement address UGC's own published answer gives, its Canara Bank scholarship portal, does not resolve at the time of writing. What has not stopped is money at this rate, and it is the All India Council for Technical Education paying it: the Council notifies a postgraduate scholarship of Rs 12,400 a month for students in the institutions it approves, year after year, the 2025-26 academic year included (AICTE PG scheme guidelines 2023-24, AICTE PG scholarship notification 2025-26). Nothing published announces UGC's version as withdrawn, and the scheme record still files it under UGC, so take what follows as the Commission's printed terms rather than as this year's cheque; a student who needs money for the current intake should be asking the institute which set of books they sit on.

The rate has not moved between the two bodies' documents. UGC sets it at Rs 12,400 a month, plus a contingency of Rs 5,000 a year, for a tenure the guidelines describe as strictly two years with no extension (UGC guidelines, archived copy), and AICTE's guideline sets of September 2021 and 2023-24 carry the same Rs 12,400 monthly figure (AICTE PG scheme guidelines, September 2021, AICTE PG scheme guidelines 2023-24).

Who runs it

Provider

At a glance

Key details

Calendar

Important dates

There is no season to miss on this route. The calendar that matters is the university's, because the first claim follows an admission and every later one follows a result, which is why both date fields in the scheme record stand empty.

The other central scheme does run on dates, which is the usual source of confusion. AICTE's postgraduate scholarship for the 2025-26 academic year opened its portal on 01st September, 2025, set 15th December, 2025 as the last date for a student to submit the online application, and 31st December, 2025 as the last date for the institute to verify (AICTE PG scholarship notification 2025-26). A missed date there is a missed year; a missed claim under UGC's procedure is a conversation with the department.

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

The score has to be in hand at admission. UGC's guidelines set the test as a GATE or GPAT qualified student admitted to AICTE approved courses in engineering and technology, which the same sentence spells out as M.E., M.Tech. and M.Pharm., at a Central, State, Deemed or Private university, and they add that AICTE funds only technical institutions approved by it and defined in section 2(h) of the AICTE Act (UGC guidelines, archived copy). Integrated dual degree courses are inside the scheme; the requirement that the admission be full time comes from the scheme record rather than from the guidelines text.

Two conditions in that sentence do more work than students expect. The course has to carry AICTE approval, so an M.Tech. running outside that approval takes the student out of the scheme regardless of the GATE result. And the claim has to sit inside the approved intake for that batch in that year, with the university stating each student's category as it files, which is why a supernumerary or over-intake admission can be genuine and still be unclaimable.

Reservation follows central policy. The guidelines require the Government of India policy for SC, ST, OBC and PH candidates to be applied strictly, and say that where no candidate is available against a reserved seat, that seat lapses for the batch rather than moving to anyone else.

Who cannot apply

Exclusions

Foreign nationals are outside the scheme entirely. So is a student who clears GATE late: the guidelines rule out any postgraduate student who passes the examination during the second year of study, from the third semester onwards, which means a candidate who took admission first and qualified afterwards has missed the door rather than delayed it.

The third exclusion is financial and catches people who think of the award as a top up. A scholar may not take any paid assignment carrying emoluments, salary or stipend for the whole tenure. There is a single carve out, described under Award & Benefits below, and it reduces the scholarship rather than adding to it.

Continuation

Renewal conditions

Renewal in this scheme is not an application, it is a result. The student has to secure first class, meaning 60% or the equivalent CGPA grade, in the first, second and third semester examinations to carry the award into the second, third and fourth semesters respectively, and the university certifies this to UGC (UGC guidelines, archived copy).

Failure in any semester ends the award immediately, and the guidelines place the duty to act on the university rather than on the student. A shortfall that is not a failure is treated differently and is dealt with under the rate table below.

The clause on restoration reads awkwardly and is worth quoting rather than paraphrasing, because departments read it differently. It says a scholarship once discontinued will not be restored even if the student secures first class after the second semester, then says it would be restored if the student improves to the level required for eligibility, with nothing paid for the intervening period. The safe reading, and the one a student can act on, is that recovery depends on the certificate the university sends, so the conversation to have is with the department that writes it.

What you get

Award & benefits

Two rows there behave in ways the headline figure hides. A semester scored below 60% is not a termination but a sharp cut for that semester alone, and if the student re-appears for the same semester and crosses 60%, the regular rate applies for the semester that was repeated and continues normally afterwards. The project row is the only route by which departmental work and this award coexist, and it moves money sideways instead of upward: the portion charged to the project is subtracted from the scholarship for the period worked, and the statement of expenditure has to show it (UGC guidelines, archived copy).

The contingency is not pocket money either. Books and non-consumable items bought from it become the property of the university or institution, and the scholar returns them at the end of the programme.

• The Scholarship under the scheme is ₹12,400/- per month per student.
• An annual contingency of ₹5,000/- will be given to the eligible student.
• Note 01: If a student scores below 60% in any semester he/she shall be paid a scholarship @ ₹1,550/- in that particular semester, if the student re-appear for the same semester and scores above 60 %, he will be entitled to get regular scholarship i.e. @ ₹12,400/- p.m. for that semester in which student reappeared. But thereafter after he is eligible for the full scholarship amount, in the next semesters.
• Note 02: The contingency grant sanctioned will be reimbursed to the scholar on the actual expenditure incurred by him/her on the admissible items within the limit. The books and non-consumable items purchased or acquired, out of the contingency grant, will be the property of the concerned university or the institution and the scholars have to return the same at the end of the programme i.e. post graduate and research work to the concerned institution.
• Note 03: No house rent is admissible to M.E./M.Tech./M.Pharm. students.
• Note 04: The scholar shall not undertake any paid assignment (emoluments/salary/stipend) during the tenure of the scholarship.
• Note 05: It will be obligatory on the part of every post graduate student to undertake 8 to 10 hours (per week) of work related to teaching and research activities as assigned to him/her by the institute. This includes tutorials, laboratory classes, development and maintenance of laboratories, assistance in research and activities undertaken by faculty members, maintenance and operation of computer and other central facilities, assistance in library, etc.
• Note 06: Scholarship shall be terminated immediately if the scholar has failed in any semester. It will be the responsibility of the University to take action in this matter.

What to prepare

Documents required

The student's own file is short. What actually carries the claim is the GATE or GPAT score card and the signed undertaking, both uploaded by the university rather than by the candidate, alongside the prescribed proforma the guidelines annex. Everything else the scheme record lists, the identity and age proof, the mark sheets and degrees, the bank details, and the category, disability or income certificates where they apply, exists so the institution can verify a claim it is about to certify.

Aadhaar sits underneath all of it. UGC records a Ministry instruction that from the financial year 2016-17 onwards Aadhaar is the identifier for disbursement of government scholarships paid directly into a beneficiary's account, and the scheme releases grant on that basis (UGC guidelines, archived copy). A candidate whose Aadhaar and bank records disagree does not fail an eligibility test, they simply do not get paid.

The paperwork that keeps arriving after the first semester belongs to the university: each subsequent semester's result, converted into a percentage where the institution awards CGPA, a discipline wise satisfactory report where the third and fourth semesters carry project work instead of an examination, a copy of the degree once the course ends, and an audited utilisation certificate against the fourth semester scholarship.

Step by step

How to apply

For the candidate, applying means finishing the admission cleanly and then handing the department a legible score card. The claim itself is the university's act: after admission it submits the first semester claim online on the UGC portal in the prescribed proforma, uploads the undertaking and the score card, keeps the numbers inside the AICTE or UGC approved intake for that batch, and names each student's category as it files. The guidelines also require the institution to certify that the claim goes to UGC alone and that it is not claiming for the same student from AICTE or any other source.

Release then runs in steps rather than in one payment. UGC releases the first semester in full for eligible students, and the second, third and fourth semester amounts only when the next claim arrives with the preceding semester's result, with the grant for each semester restricted to 6 months (UGC guidelines, archived copy).

Tracking, on this route, means tracking the claim rather than logging in anywhere. There is no student dashboard in the UGC procedure: the student's visibility comes from asking the department two specific questions, which semester's claim has been filed and whether the previous semester's release has been received, because the second answer gates the next one. Payment reaches the student's own account through Direct Benefit Transfer. UGC's published answer on disbursement sends people to its Canara Bank scholarship portal, and that address does not resolve at the time of writing, so a student who cannot open it has not mistyped anything and has no status screen to fall back on either. The technical council's route inverts that, and it is worth knowing if your institute has put you on it: the student gets a login of their own at pgscholarship.aicte.gov.in against an ID the institute generates (AICTE PG scholarship notification 2025-26), and monthly attendance forwarded by the 15th is what drives disbursement by the 30th of the same month (AICTE PG scholarship FAQ).

How winners are picked

Selection process

Nothing here resembles a merit list, because GATE and GPAT have already done the ranking. Eligibility is the whole test, and the ceiling is arithmetic: the number of claims a university can make is bounded by the approved intake for the programme in that year, and UGC's Student Corner entry describes the slots simply as being as per claims received (UGC Student Corner, archived page still carrying that entry).

The guidelines add one verification step at the paying end. The approved agency may check the genuineness of records before funds are disbursed, which is where a mismatched name, an unverified category certificate or an intake overrun surfaces.

Fine print

Terms & conditions

A scholar owes the institute time, and clause 3 of the terms puts a number on it: 8 to 10 hours in the week, spent on whatever teaching or research duty the department assigns, from tutorials through to keeping its computing and library facilities running (UGC guidelines, archived copy). Set against the bar on any paid assignment, that is the shape of the deal: unpaid hours owed for money the scholar may not supplement from anywhere else.

Conduct is the other live condition. The scholarship stops at any time for misconduct as judged by the institution's disciplinary committee, which puts the decision inside the campus rather than at the Commission.

Get help

Contact

Which desk answers depends on whose books the student is carried on, so the two are listed side by side.

Neither line is the fastest route to an answer about one specific student. The Commission sees a name only once the university has filed it, so the department that filed knows more than the switchboard does, and on the technical council's side the status a student wants sits behind their own portal login rather than with either helpline.

Source

Official links

Frequently asked questions

From the official scheme FAQ (myScheme)

Read this

Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Scheme details are compiled from myScheme, the Government of India’s official scheme-discovery platform, and are reproduced without alteration. Amounts, deadlines and eligibility change between cycles, so always confirm on the official links above before applying. Expertie does not process applications or charge fees.

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